Testing rapid aging

[Fixit]

I am just starting out and still building my still. That doesn't mean I cant experiment a bit though. So while visiting the liquor store the other day I spied some stupidly cheap tequila @ $7.99 a bottle. I bought an I have had it before it's in a word bad. Smells bad, burns the throat, give it you your enemies bad. After hearing on here of the results from rapid aging and how it can tame and change spirits I thought this was a cheap experiment to test it out.
First I needed wood and that was easy enough as I bought some boiler wood a few years bac for the fire pit and turns out it is white oak. I chopped off some bits, toasted and then broiled them for char.

Next was the method. I had heard about nuclear aging but I wanted more control so I decided to use my induction burner to control the temp. around 160f. I hooked up a temp probe in a pot of water and placed a half gallon jar with the tequila and oak in the bath with a stainless jar topper. Let it run for an hour then pulled it and let it seal outside.

[Fixit]

I repeated this two more times as I went about my day/night and by 10 pm everone in the house was getting more and more ready for a taste. Each time I opend and let it breath for a while the smell kept getting more like vannila and less like tequila. The final results were in so we each got a small sip and the verdict was 5 for 5 . Still a small bite but much smoother but the kicker was the toasted vannila flavor was in a word amazing. I would call it a succesful experiment and something I will probably keep in my back pocket for future use.

[Steve Broady]

My $0.02 worth: pretty much all of the rapid aging techniques I’ve tried have been effective at making something tasty. I haven’t had anything get worse. But I also haven’t had anything get amazing, and I would not use it for any spirit that I’m particularly proud of.

It’s kind of like painting a car with Rustoleum. It will make an old beater look a lot better for cheap, but it would be a crime to do that to a classic. It’s a handy thing to have in your repertoire for certain situations, but most of us seem to drift more towards making top shelf stuff as much as we can.

[jonnys_spirit]

This was also my first foray into this kind of thing too. I charred up some JD BBQ chips and threw them into a jar with something - I think it was white dog from one shady source or another - Stuck it in the back of the pantry and forgot about it until a year later. When I tasted it I was floored at what was possible and that pushed me over the hump to get a still and start running it and dove into research here. Unless I quit drinking i'm pretty sure i'll be making likker until I die.. I ended up doing a second test using JD chips, likker store corn spirits, tequila, and rum along with some everclear to boost the ABV to about 120pf or whatever...

Best luck with your adventures!

Cheers,
jonny

[Fixit]

Steve fair enough, for sure not top shelf but a nice result none the less considering the source. Thanks for the input its appreciated.
Cheers Jonny! I'm new to all this but this experement just adds more fans to the flame.

[scubatech]

What's great about the hobby is that everyone has their own way of doing things based on their setup. I use my ultrasound cleaner to run new make through 3 cycles of 5 minutes followed by oxygenation using and aquarium pump for 3 minutes. I then add my toasted and charred oak to my jars and place in my fermentation chamber. I can automate heat/cold cycles to push it up to 100F and then down to 30F over and over. Usually get 6 to 8 cycles per day and run for 2 or 3 weeks straight and get something really special. I don't consider it "aging" but the process does speed up the chemical reactions associated with it. Recently I made some very rough cuts to a dark chocolate bourbon I made and within a month had something that was as smooth as water with no burn at all.

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

I had an idea for an "aging" apparatus. I love inventions and tinkering, it's my favorite part of this (the rum is a REALLY nice by product though ).

I have several sizes of electric motors and potentiometers, the idea is to create a rock tumbler-esk set up that rotates a glass jug with lizard heaters on an Inkbird to raise and drop the temp. Assuming the agitation and temp changes will work their magic.

Just a crazy idea from my OCD brain. I have plenty of projects before that one, but it might make a fun project for a rainy winter Saturday in the shop.

Rusty

[scubatech]

Not crazy at all. I thought about using this vacuum meat marinade tumbler and replacing the plastic tumbler with something else.

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[Fixit]

Thanks for the input! On a side note one thing I found interesting was that in vacume mode the oak was floating. Then apon relase it fell like a stone every time.

[Steve Broady]

I had an idea for an "aging" apparatus. I love inventions and tinkering, it's my favorite part of this (the rum is a REALLY nice by product though ).

I have several sizes of electric motors and potentiometers, the idea is to create a rock tumbler-esk set up that rotates a glass jug with lizard heaters on an Inkbird to raise and drop the temp. Assuming the agitation and temp changes will work their magic.

Just a crazy idea from my OCD brain. I have plenty of projects before that one, but it might make a fun project for a rainy winter Saturday in the shop.

Rusty

If you try it, please share your results!

Fixit, I hope my comments didn’t come across as overly hard or dismissive. I’ve played around with some rapid aging, as have many of us I suspect. I don’t look down on it, I just found that it had a specific application that didn’t fit all that neatly with my own interests in this hobby. I might play around with it more in the future, but for the moment it isn’t as high on my priorities as other improvements.

[Fixit]

No worries Steve I am here as much for advice from members as anything so thanks for the reponse!